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Natasha (Laughing my butt …): Uh, oh…you are going to have a naked baby pro…Natasha (Not much happenin…): I dont think any of us could imagine that Alex woul…Crissy (Not much happenin…): Happy Thanksgiving!Sheila (In other news...): Boy, Abigail said it all-that really sucks about th…Abigail (In other news...): Sucks about the mono…I’m sorry. I hope…Natasha (Walking and sore …): Feel better soon!

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Linkdump

We've posted some pictures of Alex from the end of February and from
March, and some additional pictures of the new house. Just go to
www.thenortonzoo.com/gallery and have fun browsing!!

By the way, if you want to print out any of the pictures that you see,
you can email one of us with the picture name or something. The
pcitures that are posted aren't of the best quality, so that we can
speed up the page downloads. You can also post comments to the
pictures if you so desire.

Alex had what I think was his 7th dilation on Thursday. It went
well...they were able to stretch his esophagus up another size, and the
doc said that it was getting a little easier to stretch. The next
one might happen at the same time as his heart surgery, just so that he
doesn't have to be put under anesthetic while he's recovering from that
surgery. It would be a little ealier than needed, but then he
could recover in relative peace. The only issue that we've seen
since that dilation is a marked increase in his reflux. We're not
sure if it's because of the larger size of his esophagus or something
else, but it's certainly something to watch for. We just hope
that they won't have to correct that with surgery too.

Things are going okay other than that. I'm adjusting to my new
status as stay-at-home mom. I'm not used to being in the house
every day, all day, so I'm going a little stir crazy. The problem
is that it's hard to take Alex out of the house by myself because of
the amount of stuff that has to go with him. So, with Dan's long
hours trying to finish his research and start writing his thesis, I'm
at home a lot. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather when I
can take Alex outside more.

Speaking of taking Alex outside, I don't think that I posted my little
outing with him. We went for his first walk in his stroller last
week, on that day when it got to about 60 degrees. We walked
through our little "development". Alex was a darling, and I
actually got sore a few days later. That hill is steep!! I
was very excited to have gotten some exercise and it was great to get
Alex outside for the first time. I also took him for a walk
around the yard, showing him everything...everything that he'll never
remember. This kid is going to grow up a New Yorker!
Ahhh!!!!!!! (The scream is coming from a bonifide
Pennsylvanian...)

Alex took his second away-from-home trip this weekend. We all trekked up to
NJ to visit Dan's parents for the weekend. It was inspection time for the
house that we attempting to buy in NY, and Dan's parents are pretty close (2+
hours), so we packed up and went. Speaking of packing, though, I never knew
how much stuff a baby needs just for a weekend. Everything is
special...special food, special bed, special toys,
special equipment....

This coming week should be relatively quiet.
Alex has an occupational therapist coming to work with him on Tuesday. She
is going to be working with his feeding techniques. Unfortunately, it's been
a while since his last dilation (over two weeks now), so we may not be able
to do much feeding, but she will probably work with his oral stimulation and
stuff like that. We also have a dilation scheduled for Thursday. Other
than that, we're home (Alex and I at least). I just hope that it gets
warmer soon so that I can take the baby outside for walks now and then...